Janet Auten - Biography

For the past seven years, I have been directing a mid-sized writing center here at American University, but I still feel like a "Newbie." I have been giving papers at writing center conferences, lurking on WCenter (the e-list), getting involved in our regional WCA, reading each new book about our work. But all this activity only reinforces my the notion that writing centers are something I'm "new" at. In fact, it often seems we're creating something new every day in our Center. And I have heard that same sentiment from many colleagues as well.

Like the writing center here, my professional life has been connected to AU's College Writing Program, where I started teaching in 1991. Before that, I was a non-traditional grad student (that means a woman in her thirties with 2 kids) at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, where my husband was a professor of economics. Oh yeah, before that I worked in the "real" world with my Masters' degree in Journalism from U. of Missouri. Always the New Kid!

So perhaps I'll never shake the sense of "new-ness" that writing centers hold for me. And perhaps it's just that sense of desire and delight that I can share with all-and each-of you who depend on WLN for the "News" about what's happening now in writing centers. From my "office" cubicle in the AU Writing Center, I can listen in on any of three sessions while keeping an ear for the phone at the main desk and reading my email. It's a busy but happy hubbub of an environment that keeps me aware and involved in all facets of writing center work. Daily, I hear evidence of the practical issues that concern tutors and their directors. My "ears" will be similarly attuned to your needs and concerns as colleague, writers, and readers of WLN.